37:44.281N 25:39.852W

SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Sun 1 Jul 2018 09:33
UTC & local time — 0852

We are still at the marina, Porta Delgata.

It has been a long day yesterday.

Yes, the climbing has been successful. The blocks for the 2 halyards — gennaker halyards — has been re-attached. As usual, the exercise of climbing the mast — you start at the good weather… The weather changes as you are at the first spreaders… And then — getting worse, as you reach second spreaders… And then — you are completely soaked by rain, wind…
The thought — ‘ Climbing the mast on your own — that is crazy… Should not do it… ‘ — is crossing the mind from the moment I’ve started to climb till the job has been done…

And then — back on the deck again… and the weather is changing to sunny and nice… An the fact that the legs are not listening and are not following the orders — is ok…
The most important thing — the blocks have been re-attached… ‘Mission accomplished’… I’m happy… And the rest may be handle easily later… I wonder if the real climbing is something similar ?!

After climbing, the rest was much similar… Checking out, going to supermarket — provisioning tanning… I guess, I still have syndrome of ‘ Caribbean’ — and seeing all those fruits, vegetables, bread, cheese, cold cuts, etc, etc… with prices… I’ve even got a theory that since the islands are visited with boats with a lot of ‘Caribbean’ or ‘Bermuda’ syndrome — the locals artificially lowering prices, which drastically increases the purchase volumes… and as result — everybody happy! ;-).

Walked though the city and made a few photos… ( Well, that will be processed at some point later… and would be on the drop box… ). The major idea was to cover as much as possible how the civilisation may be built at one particular island!

Of course, the biggest event — football cup! Big displays everywhere, each caffe — packed…
Yesterday, probably, was something extra interesting and successful for Portugal — since the happy screams and celebration later has been going nearly till the dawn…

So, that was yesterday.

Today is July 1st, and we are preparing to leave, actually prepared to leave…
Eleonora is dressed into her ‘beating’ dress — 2 front sails, reefed main… We are going to turn over the West Point of St. Miguel Island, and go against Northerly winds — whatever the tack and course possible… In attempt to get to the belt of the Westerly winds…

What is the destination?
At this point — Falmouth, UK.
There are a few reasons for that…
— after consultations with other sailors, and reading some pilots, guides ( ‘ Michael, should you do it before ?! ‘ )… If I enter the Med right now — it would be the pick of the season. Not only expensive, but crowded… Yes, I can go to Atlantic coast — Spain, Portugal… But those are the Shengen zone members… which activate my 3 month allowance counter… And then less time would left to the Med…
— I’ve told that the best time to visit Med — August, September…
— I’ve never been in UK…
— I’ve never sailed in tidal waters… Real tidal waters…
— Why not ?!
— etc, etc, etc…

But plans are subject to change rapidly. And, please, do not be surprised, if at the middle of the route, the captain decides to change the destination to somewhere else…
At the end, sailing is amazing!

That is all for now. The weather is decent, and we are planning to leave soon!

Have a great day, a great holiday!
M.